In our last Bus Stop Classics post we looked at how the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ushered transit coach operations into a new era – the “Low Floor System” or “LFS” era. We also looked at the first low floor coach to be introduced to the North America market; the New Flyer D40LF. New Flyer had a monopoly on the low floor bus market for several years in the early 1990’s, but one competitor was working hard to change that…

That competitor was Montreal-based NovaBus. NovaBus has an interesting history. For the non-bus fans here, let me provide just a quick summary. The company traces its heritage back to the General Motors Diesel Division (GMDD), GM’s Canadian-based heavy equipment subsidiary. The success of the New Look coach in 1959 encouraged GM to start another production line in Canada, and in 1961, GMDD began assembling that bus. It went on to build an update, the Classic, all over a 25 year period at its assembly plant in Saint-Eustache. GM sold its bus operations to Motor Coach Industries (MCI) in 1987 and that company continued operating the facility until 1994, when they too elected to divest their transit bus models. The employees at that point took the innovative step of incorporating the plant on their own, and naming their new company NovaBus. In 1997, the company was purchased by Volvo Bus Corp, which continues to operate it as a subsidiary. Volvo had previously purchased Prevost Car Inc., a long time Quebec-based maker of intercity and tour coaches, in 1995.

B96 Alliance LFS Demonstrator

While still producing the New Look Classic model for the Canadian market, NovaBus realized there was no future growth in high floor buses – and focused on getting a new low floor model into production. They looked to Europe for a potential partner and, interestingly, found the same company as New Flyer had several years earlier – the Dutch company Den Oudsten Bussen B.V. Unfortunately, Den Oudsten was in somewhat dire financial straits by this time and couldn’t fulfill its portion of the joint venture. NovaBus did acquire one B96 Alliance bus and obviously studied the design – one can see the similarity between it and the prototype demonstrator LFS model released in 1994.

By this point, buses were fairly standardized in terms of size (40 ft long, 102 in wide), powertrain (Detroit Diesel, Cummins, or Caterpillar), and transmission (Alison, Voith or ZF). But the LFS had one unique feature – an asymmetrical engine placement – it used a T drive orientation with the engine offset to the left (facing the rear of the bus). This offset allowed for a full low floor version, in addition to a “Low Entry” model.

To meet “Buy American” restrictions, the bus was built at an older assembly plant in upstate Schenectady New York beginning in 1995. However, orders weren’t as large as forecasted and the plant closed in 2002 – the company withdrew from the US to concentrate on the Canadian market. Prior to closure, one major customer was the Chicago Transit Authority who purchased 480 LFS models for their fleet.

The company kept its eye on trends in the US market and saw an opportunity to re-enter in the later part of the decade. In 2009, it built a new assembly plant in Plattsburgh New York, only sixty miles south of Montreal. This plant was expanded in 2015.

This first generation was built from 1995 – 1999.

The second generation (1999 –2009) came only in a Low Entry model.

2nd Gen 3rd Gen

The third generation (2009 –2013) switched the engine location to the center-line of the bus.

The fourth generation (2013 – present) continues to be built at the Plattsburgh plant today.

A 62 seat articulated version is available for BRT routes.

This is another bus I have not had the opportunity to ride in, so I’d be interested in hearing reader’s comments. I’ll admit I’m not a fan of its looks – it strikes me as trying to be a little too “cute.” I admire bus manufacturers like Flxible that try to put some style in their products, and also those that eschew styling for strict functionality, like the New Look Classic and New Flyer D40LF. This NovaBus looks like it would be more at home in a Disney Parking Lot, rather than Main Street.

Our next post will look at the last of the US manufacturers currently offering a heavy duty low floor urban transit coach – Gillig…

Never ridden in one, but saw a few years ago in Santa Barbara, CA.. They may have been the only LFS operators on the west coast. This brings to mind the efforts to make a low floor version of the RTS, I seem to remember that MCI was toying with the idea while they were still building the RTS in New Mexico, and the mysterious Millennium Transit continued the work when they took RTS production over. Maybe a prototype was built, and there was supposed to be a big order from New Jersey that never materialized?

Interesting read as always, newer busses may not be much to look at but at least I can now use them as a conversation starter when I and someone else are in a car and in traffic 🙂

I agree with your final thoughts completely, I called the New Flyer D40LF a hard edged rectangle when I commented on it, but I do prefer it’s sheer utilitarian design. The NovaBus I always thought was directly related to the D40LF but with a rebranded “cute” nose, funnily enough I think maybe the a few of the riding experiences I mentioned were in one of these afterall, since most would have been on CTA. That nose is what turns me off too, had the rest of the bus been *styled* like the front end maybe it would work better, but the vast majority is plain hard edged rectangle like the New Flyer, maybe worse with that ugly offset rear window in the 1st – 2nd gen, so it completely clashes – and holy front overhang!

I might be wrong, but I believe they do actually use these buses at Disney World. I’ve ridden in them many times, and they’re relatively pleasant, especially compared to the old RTS buses they also use there.

Interesting read! Rode them in Montréal and Québec a few times, where they were a good fit for city traffic. Good memories of those, since I used them the only time I saw my girlfriend while she spent her semester abroad at Université Laval (same reason I took a major liking to both of those cities).

The buses themselves really aren’t much different from those here in Europe: low floor for easy accessibility, very similar space utilisation, with luggage compartments on the airport line, the same seats, and it appears the driver’s compartment is exactly the same as in Den Oudsten buses and their successors.

A few Nova Buses are in use by Sherwood Park transit as they shuttle residents into Edmonton. I don’t recall seeing them used much in other Alberta cities. Certainly Edmonton Transit and Calgary Tranisit favour New Flyer as they’ve had a long history with that manufacturer.

Thanks for posting the feature as I’ve always wondered what these buses were all about.

Great article! Calgary has a bunch of the 3rd generation LFS and I quite like them. They’re just as comfortable as the New Flyers. I rarely catch the bus but was really happy to be able to catch a ride on one yesterday.

It’s always interesting to see brand new NYCMTA buses on I-87 in the Champlain Valley, sometimes north of Plattsburgh (they go up to the Chazy exit and back for the shakedown run).

Delivery costs must either be equalized nationally like for retail cars and light trucks, or somehow not considered in the bid price as CCTA in Burlington uses Gilligs from the west coast which can’t be that much cheaper than Novabuses from right across the lake.

Great comment – I was going to put in the article that my first USAF assignment in 1979 was to Plattsburgh AFB – know the area pretty well. I always tell folks how beautiful upstate NY is.

Regarding the Gilligs versus NovaBus in Burlington, two possible explanations; 1) You may know that the federal government can subsidize up to 80% of the cost for capital equipment purchases for transportation companies, so it may be that at the time of purchase, the Gillgs received a larger federal grant, and 2) Gillig is known to be pretty aggressive with pricing, so they may have significantly undercut the NovaBus bid. Jim.

People here will hate me for saying this, but I find all modern US-made buses and coaches very clumsy and dated in the styling department, in fact there is a lot in common with stuff produced in Russia or Africa. This of course was not always the case – in the 50s the US was one of the leaders in so far as styling and design were concerned. It is as if there was a joint decision to produce the most utilitarian and graceless products on earth, but I have no idea why – is there some obscure regulation which causes this?

IMO it’s because the companies making them are based on a utilitarian and graceless business model, you can tell just by the lameo names of them – New Flyer NovaBus(hey, does that translate into NoGoBus in Spanish?) – I doubt these companies even have designers, just an engineers or two to make sure they meet standards and accountants to prevent development waste(which aesthetics is always the prime target because they don’t understand the phycology involved in eyesores)

Back when GM was dominant in this field they had some of the most talented industrial designers on earth in their employ, the (non-classic)New Look was a very attractive bus design, it was as functionally beautiful as it was beautifully functional, it matched the traffic, infrastructure, architecture and nature that surrounded them. Something completely lost on motor vehicle design and the public’s awareness as a whole pretty much since the 70s.

I don’t find the Euro busses much better – utilitarian and graceless with flush headlights and glass, bleh. Does aero REALLY matter on a city bus?

I think the answer is because the US bus industry has been rather chaotic for decades. There has been no consistency in ownership, with almost constant changes. One of the main reasons for that is that almost all transit bus purchases are made with federal dollars, and these allocations are subject to Congressional oversight. That means that there are often big fluctuations, which makes it very difficult for the manufacturer. And of course the buses have to be US-made. And meet very stringent federal requirements.

In Europe, the bus business is much more consistent, and probably significantly larger too, as mass transit is a bigger share of the transportation pie.

These factors in the US have meant that older designs were cobbled up to look a bit newer, or European designs had to be modified to meet US regulations. None of that is conducive to investing more to make them look better.

But the buses we have in Eugene, on our new Bus Rapid Transit system, look pretty decent.

These buses are a bit strange looking, but it’s to a good end. They have a noticeably shorter wheelbase than most 40′ buses. Chicago CTA uses the LFS on 2 late cross town routes (e.g., Belmont, Fullerton, Diversey) that have tight stops. The 244″ wheelbase makes a huge difference vs. the 284″ wheelbase of 40′ New Flyers. When they substitute the occasional New Flyer on those routes, it will block traffic at most stops when it can’t pull in parallel to the curb.

I must agree with T.Turtle here. The American buses seem so outdated and utilitarian compared to anything from Europe and other parts of the world for that matter. I just don’t get the heavy, ugly black bumpers, utilitarian looking mirrors and chopped off rear ends with lights that seem to have come from one supplier since the 1960’s. Nova LF seems to be a bit better with its aerodynamic front end. Have a quick look at this offering from Solaris, a Polish manufacturer:

Actually I found that NovaBus LFS looks (though based only on pics) almost sporty in comparison with European Solaris/MANs/Volvos/Mercedes etc. which all are just box. Sometimes agressively styled box, but still box.

About Solaris Urbino (this thing give me lift to work each day) – there isn’t any longitudinal grab handles, only a few vertical poles. Not pleasant when you must ride standing in rush hours and hadn’t nothing to grab. Annoying beancounting.

Also I hate full low floor buses and trams – they are cramped, narrow cans thanks to enormous wheel wells.

Nova has built decent buses – you mentioned the 480+ that CTA bought circa 2000-2001. These provided the bulk of the service on the NW Side of the City for years and ran and ran and ran (and still run!). CTA’s last order of buses was for 425 Novas in 2014. The arrival of these allowed the retirement of all but around 100 of the older Novas.